


David's reccords

by Ella_Lavie



Category: The New Pope, The Young Pope (TV)
Genre: Jewish Character, Original Character-centric, Vatican, a jewish pope, and it looks like it works, my beta reader is catholic, popes, so I'm doing my best to be respectful
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-29
Updated: 2021-01-13
Packaged: 2021-03-06 00:48:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,204
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25594558
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ella_Lavie/pseuds/Ella_Lavie
Summary: Shortly after Pope John Paul III resignation Pope John XXIV was alected, but, continuing the unfortunate streak of short reigns, he would resign a year later. John XXIV's reign was, by most standards, unnotable, but very noticeable. Pope John XXIV himself was clouded in mystery. Unlike Pius XIII, he was reasonably predictable and appeared in public often, but by keeping certain details to himself, he made piecing together his character impossible.Years later, the publishing of his private record reveals his closest kept secret.
Relationships: Other Relationship Tags to Be Added
Comments: 5
Kudos: 4





	1. a pope's confession

**Author's Note:**

> I really hope you like it! Constructive criticism is welcomed:)

I felt in fitting to open this article with Pope John XXIV’s own words from his record of his story ‘Why I did it- the story of a destroyed one’ also known as ‘David’s records’ -

“ _To the person reading this, I offer my sincere apology and my hope that they will choose to accept it. If it was decided to keep those documents within the walls of the Vatican after they have been read, I ask only for an apology to released to the public, the wording and the vagueness of which I leave in the hands of the current pope, but if he has mercy in his heart I am begging him to do it. I did what I believed to be my best. I am sorry. I, currently, don’t know why those papers are seeing the light of day again, the most probable options that I can think of are that-_

_1\. At least sixty years have passed *_

_2\. The current pope or the believers have decided that this is the right time before then_

_3\. My secret has been discovered_

_4\. A burglar or a journalist have bypassed the security of those papers_

_5.I was deemed a candidate for sainthood**_

_since not all of those options require you to know the truth, I will state it clearly- I am not a christian. I was a true christian and a true catholic from ages seventeen to fifty-six. I was born Jewish. I converted to Christianity and catholicism sincerely. I started practicing Judaism again in secret at fifty-six, four years before I was chosen as pope. I was clear-minded and fully aware of the fact that I wasn’t a christian when I accepted the position. I knowingly deceived the believers doing my papacy by keeping that fact from them. I had no malicious intent. I haven’t lied once for the duration of the time I occupied the holy throne. I was not power-hungry. I was born, and intend to die, David Cohen, the son of Suzanne and Theodore Cohen Z"L from Copenhagen, Denmark_.”

> *the words ‘one hundred’ have been crossed out by hand and were replaced with a handwritten sixty - considered to have been added after John XXIV has allowed public access (in contrast to the limited scholar access allowed before) to Vatican archival materials pertaining to Pope Pius XII’s pontificate.
> 
> **another handwritten later addition, referenced in a later page.

* * *

One of the many questions that those opening passages raise is, who exactly was David Cohen before he became John XXIV?

Most of the record concerns his later life and his time as pope, so this section will contain less of David’s record then the next, but I have gone to extensive measures to ensure the outside information is legitimate. In an interview with TIME, after being asked about the nature of his childhood he said “ _All I will say (of his childhood) is that it was a good one._ ” In his record he elaborated on that statement, writing “ _I was lucky enough to have wonderful parents, I grew up happy and healthy, (other than mild childhood illnesses), I had a lot of friends, I did well enough in school, I loved (and still love) my little brother, I haven't lost anyone close to me until I was well into my twenties (my dear grandmother, Ruth, Z”L). In short- it wasn’t tragedy that led me into the arms of the church._ ” and later “ _My family was never religious. the first time entered a synagogue* was when I was ten, for my cousin's bar mitzvah, one of 4 visits I'd have done my childhood (the others being, once for my own bar mitzvah, and twice at historic synagogues on a vacation to Israel.)_ ”

> _*_ the synagogue mentioned was most likely The Great Synagogue in Copenhagen, both by it being the main synagogue of the Jewish community in Copenhagen, and by a later mention of his synagog being a four-minute walk from the Church of Our Lady in Copenhagen.

Suzanne Schwarz Cohen, a Copenhagen born Jewish Nurse, and her husband Theodore Cohen, a dentist of the same background as his wife, went together to the University of Copenhagen’s Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, where they met, and married a year after Theodore's graduation with an orthodox rabbi. David was born a year after that, to an upper-middle-class family with two working parents, and by all accounts, his recollection of his childhood was accurate (including but not limited to some very underwhelming report cards), and by the number of broken arms and legs in his medical record from ages four to fifteen, we can conclude that he was a very active child and early teen.

For both his kindergarten, elementary, lower secondary education he attended Carolineskolen, a private Jewish day school in Copenhagen. There he first befriended his classmate, (Pf.) Ernest Adler, who were to become his lifelong friend, one of the three people whom he trusted with his secret during his lifetime (and one of the eight who knew about it), and later a professor of Architecture in the Sapienza University of Rome. When David was seven, his little brother, Jakob, was born. Jakob and David's relationship was very close, and they talked ether through phone or text at least two times a week through all of their adult life. ( Jacob later immigrated to Israel and became a teacher and a school headmaster). According to his passport, doing this period the Cohens visited Germany (twice), Switzerland, Israel, Greece, and Egypt.

David continued with most of his classmates to a higher secondary education, where he learned in Rysensteen Gymnasium, a public higher secondary school much closer to his house. It was in this school that he first founded himself interested in questions of theology-

" _I never thought I'll find myself a spiritual life. When I was fifteen, on my first year in the gymnasium, one of my friends, Hans Andersen, like the writer, convinced me to take theology with him. That's when it happened. Most of my friends were in love with schoolmates, actresses, or singers that year. I fell head over heels for the Catholic church. I still, to this day, don't know what made me so enamored with it. In that I am not saying that the Catholic church has nothing to be enamored with. I became more enamored with her every day for most of my life. I am saying that I wasn't an extraordinary child, and I didn't yet understand religion fully enough to appreciate it properly, and yet, I was, truly, in love. I remember borrowing the new testament from a library and reading it from cover to cover in a single weekend. I read every book on the subject I could put my hands on, I was never so interested in anything in my life. I bullied my catholic friend, poor Mark, into letting me go with his family to church. My parents saw no problem in my new interest, I remember my mother saying “there is no harm in learning about it, the worst-case scenario, he will become a theologist.” which today is, unfortunately, quite funny. later that year, on a Friday dinner I told my parents that I wanted to convert. They, very reasonably, told me that I was just 15, that I was a child, that it was too early, and eventually, to think hard about it, to read about other religions too, to hear the experience of people who converted, to wait. I did all that they told me, except wait. I read everything I could, I didn't sleep for an entire week, I visited the synagogue once a week for two months, I tried to believe it, but I couldn't. I did all that I could but nothing felt right. G-d wasn't the first to give me guidance and love, but he was G-d, and when G-d gives you guidance you follow. I was looked in the double-edged arms of faith. After that period my dad started to drive me to church. I became a catechumenate on my sixteenth birthday, when I proclaimed my desire and intention to become a Christian, I was sure in that as much as I was that first day almost a year before. I had all the motivation, I was clear-minded, and exited, and strong-willed, and I had tears in my eyes almost a year later when I proclaim that desire once more and was allowed to take the next step. I gave up chametz for my first Lent, and that Passover I had what I believed to my last Seder as a jew a few days before my baptism. I have never seen a church as beautiful as St. Ansgar's Church was that day. I gave my confirmation and finally received the holy* Eucharist. At the end of my mystagogy I asked the priest who guided me what should I do now, and he answered in a warmness I will never forget, even if my translation from Danish is lacking, “Now, kid, you do your best.”. Two years later, in my yearbook, I and the Church had stolen the “most likely to marry first” from the couple of the year- Henrik Jensen and Birgitte Møller, and while did they did marry before I finished the priesthood training I started that year, they also separated long before my fallout with the church.”_


	2. a bishop's interview

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A shorter chapter, but I hope you like it

On his priesthood, Cohen wrote-

_“I knew I wanted to be a priest since I was seventeen and a half. I never saw myself as the kind to plan ahead, but I always knew what I wanted to do, and sometimes I needed to wait. I felt, in every bone in my body, that the best thing I could do was to become a priest, so I set and I waited another year and a half, finished school, volunteered, and finally- started my training. There was no place in Denmark where I could learn what I needed, so I left for Rome. I never liked Rome. It was too hot, humid, and excessively decorated. I would never admit back then, what Catholic priest would stand in front of the Vatican wishing that he was in Copenhagen? I would say it was an early sign, but Jerusalem never impressed me either, so the neutral assumption is that I just love my hometown. Nevertheless, those eight years flew by, and I was over the moon when I boarded the plane back to Denmark, a priest. For the next four, I served as a second priest at the St. Ansgar's Church while I got my teacher’s degree. I have thought about becoming a teacher when I was still in Rome, and I believed that I should get all the learning over with quickly, so I could spend the rest of my life helping others instead of learning for my own sake. Teaching fulfilled me, being a priest fulfilled me, I never had any higher aspirations. I was sissified, and I would have stayed in this position for the rest of my life, but the bishop of Copenhagen died. The next bishop needed to be danish, and back then most of the catholic priests in Denmark were foreign, so while all of the bishops of Copenhagen that came before and after me where exceptional man, I find it hard to believe that the bar was very high when I was chosen. That was the first time that life didn’t comply with my plans.”_

Though the limited number of eligible candidates might have played a part in Cohen’s election, it seems, at least according to his later accomplishment, that he has underestimated his qualifications. 

In his 14 years as a teacher Cohen left a lasting impression on his students. The few that I manage to contact described him as a great teacher, and of course, I would recommend that you read Clara Pedersen’s article “My history teacher, John XXIV”. Pedersen, a respected danish journalist, is not Cohen’s only student to gather an impressive resume. Most interestingly Agner Madsen, who became a member of the swiss guard shortly before John XXIV began his papacy. 

After becoming a bishop, no longer being able to teach, Cohen threw himself into charity work, which became his life long passion and a contributing factor to the unfortunate circumstances of his papacy. It seems like he didn’t enjoy much of his time as bishop, his writing on the period containing only two sentences -

_"Those were ten long years- I did some important work, and I hope I have helped my community, but I constantly felt stuck. Unable to work on the big projects I saw as most important, and unable to dedicate time to teach in a classroom, where I felt most capable to help.”_

Undoubtedly, the event that sparked the most public interest (both Catholic and non-catholic alike) in David Cohen was his arrival to the bar mitzvah of Ernest Adler’s eldest son. 

Liking the imagery, Isak Berendsen, a beginning photographer, and Adler’s brother-in-law, asked Cohen if he could take a picture of him on a smoke break outside the synagogue. That picture of him- smoking underneath the Hebrew lettering of the synagogue’s lintel, in a clerical collar and a red zucchetto (that you might have seen recently in various articles about his Jewishness, or floating out of context around the internet), was shown by Berendsen to a journalist, Terese Hansen, which sparked her interest in the story. 

Hansen eventually wrote _“Father Cohen- how a Jewish boy became the Catholic bishop of Copenhagen”_ (translated to English by Chuck Nielsen), a short article, including an interview with Cohen, published in the Berlingske. The beginning of the interview includes a shortened version of the conversion story seen in his records, but I believe we can learn more about his life and personality at the time from this later part of the interview. 

_“_ **_So do you still spend the holidays with the family?_ **

_I try to, well, the Seder is a bit difficult for me, but I go every time it falls outside the Holy Week, the High holidays are easier. Obviously, I don’t observe any of them, but neither does my family really, they aren’t very religious... We always have a great time._

**_What about Hanukkah?_ **

_I try to come for at least one night, can’t miss the latkes! (the bishop laughs) I invite them to Christmas too, my brother brings his children, it’s very nice to have my family around._

**_About the photo-_ **

_The photo?_

**_The one outside the synagogue_ **

_Oh, I was at a childhood friend’s son bar mitzvah_ ****

**_You wore a clerical shirt to a bar mitzvah?_ **

_I must confess that I don’t have any other formal shirts. Becoming a priest straight out of high school saved me the trouble of developing a fashion sense, I gave my friend a choice and he chose the dog collar over the cassock or, and I quote ‘one of your hobo shirts’._

**_And the zucchetto?_ **

_Close enough to a yamaka, isn’t it? They didn’t know the difference.”_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> okay, yes, it's been a while, but here we are. early merry christmas my gentiles!


	3. Cardinal's Doubts

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this is a shorter chapter, but don't worry, we are getting to the action in the next one

As Cohen arrives at the Vatican, the records became more detailed

_ “One thing my time as bishop did give me was a sense of duty on a greater scale. I saw a world in need of more help than I could give as the bishop of a very lovely city but a relatively small diocese. I might not have felt strongly qualified to give this help, but I felt that I had to even more strongly. My predecessor* must have understood my feelings, and I have been appointed cardinal. I was never so happy to see Rome in my life. As an added bonus, Ernest, my childhood friend, has gotten a position in Sapienza. I picked up one project after another, and I was finally able to make a difference. Overall, I believe, life was good.  _

_ At 53 I started having doubts. Serious doubts.  _

_ I was told it was neutral to have doubts at this point in my life, that it was impressive that I didn’t have them until then. Ernest lagged and told me that I was finally out of the honeymoon phase, and my brother said “I heard Jerusalem helps with those- maybe you would finally come visit me here” (If I remember it accurately). _

_ I did go to Jerusalem that year. It did not help, and in fact, it made it worse.  _

_ I prayed. I prayed to Mary, to Canute, to Edith Stein- but my prayers begin to feel somehow empty. I was doing everything by the book, I told myself, my heart was in it, my brain was, but something  _ **_else_ ** _ wasn't, and I was helpless. Helpless and desperate, so for the first time in my life, I prayed in Hebrew**, that same something shattered.  _

_ Me and Judaism did not have as exciting a love story. I just knew something wasn’t right, and I found out what did. Maybe there is a bit of love there, for the light and rebellion and flowers, but I didn’t fall into it, I walked towards it in slow hesitant steps.  _

_ I could have resigned. I was 56, I wasn’t young, but my life wasn’t over. I could have gone back to teaching. it wouldn't have been shameful even, I had neither a recognizable face nor a recognizable position. Denmark would have accepted me back with open arms, “I’ve given all I had to give,” I could have told them “now G-d is calling me home”. but I haven’t given all I had to give yet. I had one more big project, and I didn’t see anyone taking over it if I resigned. this was more important than me, I told myself, just one more year.  _

_ but a year turned into two, and two years turned into four, and just like a snowball, the problem became bigger and bigger as time went on.  _

_ I practiced in secret, and in my time as cardinal, I did lie. I didn’t enjoy it, I wasn’t proud, but I thought it was necessary. In those four years I have told more lies than in any other period in my life. I will now try to list them for you, and you might find in your heart the will to forgive me for those, even if for nothing else.  _

_ “I am getting old, sister Jane, I can’t afford to wake up late nowadays.” _

_ “Friday night is the only time my brother is free to talk.” _

_ …” _

> *His predecessor on the holy throne, not the bishophood.
> 
> **Cohen was fluent in hebrew, though it is unclear if he learnd it doing his time in school or at a later point in his life, after his brother moved to Israel.

The list is more than a page long, it seems that even after coming back to Judaism, Cohen still held curtain Catholic mindsets. 

after this impressive list, he wrights-

_ “I was happy, I wouldn't I wasn’t- I did know that lying was immoral, but for the first time in a long time, I wasn't lost. I was doing good work, and my work was doing good, and G-d, well, I believe me and G-d where on better spiking terms.” _


End file.
